Interactive virtual classroom

ABSTRACT

A system for allowing interactivity between an instructor provided with an instructor&#39;s workstation and a plurality of student&#39;s monitoring student workstations all of which are remote with respect to each other. A video and audio presentation would be transmitted in real time from the instructor&#39;s workstation to each of the student&#39;s workstation. Each of the student&#39;s workstation would include a monitor for displaying a video portion of the instructor&#39;s presentation as well as including response buttons for answering various questions posed by the instructor. The instructor&#39;s workstation would include a monitor for displaying the student&#39;s responses to the instructor&#39;s questions.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to an interactive teaching system inwhich a lecturer is located at a remote location from the students.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conventional brick and mortar have, by their very nature, a limitedcapacity to accommodate students due to space considerations. Once allavailable classroom space is filled, no other students can attend thatclass, thereby limiting the availability of educational opportunitiesfor certain segments of the potential student body. This would alsolimit tuition paid to these institutions due to lack of facility space.An instructor in a conventional classroom can only teach those studentswho are physically present in that classroom. Transportationavailability, distance and cost may all conspire to limit or even topreclude student attendance. Furthermore, an institution of higherlearning may not have an instructor on staff that is qualified to teacha certain subject, or the classroom sessions for a particular instructorwho is versed in that subject matter may be filled to capacity. Short ofthe expensive proposition of building new or expanding old facilities,the conventional classroom based institution is not capable of the rapidexpansion needed to meet the educational demands of our burgeoninginformation age. Even if classroom space was available, the lack ofqualified instructors (particularly since shortages of teachers areforecast for the next decade) would greatly limit the opportunity forstudents to be instructed in various courses of study.

At the present time, a fortuitous combination of technology used toprovide information in a nearly real-time time frame, coupled with thecommunications industry, has allowed for the creation of remote learningcapabilities in which a lecturer is at a remote location with respect tothe students. This type of technology has been detailed in a number ofU.S. patents.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,555, issued to Ziv-El, describes aremote teaching system wherein one or more groups of students located atone or more remote learning centers is taught by a teacher located at aninstruction center. Each student at the learning center is provided witha terminal, including an alphanumeric keyboard, a multi-line LCD, visualreinforcement devices, an audio reinforcement device, a terminalidentification device, a local controller and an audio-visual outputport. A student's response generated by a teacher's question would bestored in respective response buffers. Information from these buffers istransmitted to the teacher's terminal and are displayed thereon. Asocial mode means is provided for coordinating each of the participantterminals within a learning center to collectively respond to aparticular question indicated by a teacher. However, it is important tonote that the patent. to Ziv-El operates in an environment in which aplurality of students are located at the same learning center. Each ofthe students is supplied with their own computer and the learning centeris provided with an extra computer for coordinating the responsesgenerated by the students based upon a question posed by the teacher.Additionally, the patent to Ziv-El does not provide a system in which astudent at the student's own console would be able to control theoperation of the teacher's console.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,404, issued to Linton, describes a method and systemfor accessing multi-media data in an interactive format having reportingcapabilities. The system includes a means for streaming an instructionalsegment to a user, as well as evaluating the user's comprehension of theinstructional segment and reporting the results of the instructionalsegment to an administrator. A means is also included for granting theuser access to the instructional segment via a user handle and a privatepassword that are corroborated by a database system when the useraccesses the instructional segment. However, this patent is directed toa system in which prerecorded data in the form of the instructionalsegment, is transmitted to the ultimate user.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,216, issued to Cueto, describes a system forproviding an interactive education process. Individual students are atremote sites and are provided with computer terminals having computernetwork connections to an interactivity engine which receives inquiriesand comments from the students through the network connections. Thecomputer network connection to the interactivity engine provides thecapability of feedback allowing the instruction to be structured aroundthis feedback. The interactivity engine categorizes the studentinquiries and comments and presents them in an ordered fashion topersonnel in a studio represented by a stage manager. The stage managerthen relays this information to an instructor for broadcast response. Itis clear that the patent to Cueto does not describe a system in whichstudents' responses to an instructor's questions are not directlydisplayed on the instructor's monitor in a real-time manner.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,717, issued to Larochelle et al, discusses ateaching system employing a teacher controller device which is seriallyconnected with a plurality of computer stations in a closed loopcircuit. Each of the computer stations is designed to be utilized bystudents that would include a computer device, as well as a videomonitor interconnected to one another through an interface unit. Acontrol signal is generated to condition each of the computer stationsto operate in either an individual mode, a source mode or a target mode.In the individual mode, the video signals issued from each individualcomputer are displayed on its associated video monitor. In the sourcemode, a video output screen connection and a computer input areconnected directly to the closed loop network cable through buffers. Inthe target mode, video output cannot be displayed on the video monitor.The Larochelle et al system does not allow for responses to a teacher'sinquiry to be displayed on the teacher's monitor. Additionally, thispatent does not relate to a system in which students can control theteacher's desktop display area.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,818, issued to Shapiro et al, details a computertraining system including an instructor workstation and a plurality ofstudent workstations. The instructor workstation includes apersonal-type computer, a computer video monitor and a video switchingsystem for selectively connecting each of the student workstationcomputers and their respective video monitors to the instructor'sworkstation video monitor. There is no recitation in this patentallowing a student to operate the instructor's workstation or showingstudent responses to the instructor's inquiries to be displayed on theinstructor's video monitor.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,993, issued to Krumholz, describes a computerteaching system including a teacher station having a computer and ateacher's display, as well as a plurality of student computers connecteda teacher switching console. The teacher switching console has thecapability of selectively connecting any computer display signal outputto any student display screen. Similar to the Shapiro et al patent, thepatent to Krumholz illustrates a scheme allowing various of the studentcomputers to be connected to the teacher's display.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,444, issued to Aggarwal et al shows a system forimplementing virtual class and distance education in which lessonmaterial is sent in advance to student entities when network usage islow. Although this patent does contemplate a situation in which a livepresentation from an instructor is transmitted to the student entitiesand the student is allowed to query the instructor during variousportions of the lessons, this patent does not describe a system in whichstudent responses to instructor's questions are displayed on theinstructor's monitor, as well as stored for further examination.Additionally, this patent does not contemplate a situation in which thestudent can control the instructor's computer desktop in real-time.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,240, issued to Wackym, shows an interactive trainingsystem for training students to use a computer. This system includes aninstructor's station, as well as a plurality of student stations. Eachof the student's stations includes a control means comprising atwo-position switch for connecting each of the student's monitors to theinstructor's computer, as well as connecting the student's monitor tothe student's computer. Although this patent gives the instructor theability to dynamically demonstrate every input being displayed on theinstructor's monitor, there is no direct interaction between each of thestudents and the instructor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The deficiencies of the prior art are addressed by the present inventionwhich relates to a virtual classroom or learning system providinginteractivity between a lecturer and one or more students, each remotelylocated with respect to the lecturer. This virtual classroom is designedto allow the remote students at any location to synchronously attend alive class and participate during the class session, and create andsubmit class work assignments for instructor review. The virtualclassroom provides a conduit for connectivity, overcoming the barriersof geographic location and the physical limitation of the brick andmortar institution, thereby bringing the student and the instructioninto a learning space without physical barriers. The virtual classroomis not an educational system. It is rather the tool to extend the reachof classroom instruction to students who would otherwise be unable toattend classes.

The virtual classroom includes, at the instructor's location, aninstructional workstation for the presentation of educational materialsand a student interactivity monitor/control workstation, as well as aplurality of student workstations at a remote location. Although it ispossible that several of the student workstations can all be located ina single central area remote from the instructor's workstation, in apreferred embodiment each of the students' workstations are not onlyremote with respect to the instructor's location, but are also remotewith respect to each other's workstation.

The instructional workstation would include a desktop computer providedwith all of the standard tools utilized with a computer, such as akeyboard, a mouse and a video monitor. One or more camera stations areprovided adjacent to the instructor's location allowing video and audioof the instructor's presentation to be encoded and transmitted inreal-time to the students' workstations. One of the cameras would betrained on the instructor during the instructor's presentation and asecond camera would be trained upon the instructor's desktop, allowingdisplay of printed materials or three-dimensional objects. Obviously, itmight be possible to utilize only a single camera to transmit andperhaps record both of the aforementioned functions by allowing thecamera to be rotated to view different areas, either remotely, or withthe benefit of a technician. A microphone would be associated with oneor more cameras or would be placed in proximity of the instructor'sworkstation to allow an audio broadcast of the instructor'spresentation, either in concert with the video presentation, or withoutthe benefit of the video presentation. Certainly, other instructionalimplements, such as a blackboard or slides, could also be included inthe instructor's workstation.

Each of the student's workstations would include a computer providedwith a video display area allowing the students to see the instructor'spresentation. A speaker would also be included in the student'sworkstation to also allow the students to hear the instructor'spresentation. The monitor would also include a second video display areain which the instructor's desktop display area is projected upon each ofthe students' monitors.

A keyboard and mouse would be associated with each of the computersallowing each student to separately interact with the instructor in anintuitive, rapid manner. A standard keyboard could be utilized or aspecialized keyboard would be implemented having specific responsebuttons.

The instructor's monitor/control workstation would also include a videomonitor upon which would be viewed each of the students interactivitywith respect to various questions posed by the instructor in theinstructor's presentation. The monitor/control workstation would alsoallow the instructor to select different optional configurations forstudent interactivity.

Each of the students' monitors would include a status line sectiongiving positive confirmation that a student's response has been receivedby the instructor. Furthermore, a question box would provided on thevideo monitor allowing the student to type a question or comment andsend this question or comment to the instructor.

Each of the students' monitors and/or keyboards would include a varietyof buttons or icons to allow the student to respond to and interact withthe instructor. Typical responses might include a yes or no answer, amultiple choice quiz response, or a raised hand indicator showing theinstructor's questions or questions and comments generated by whetherthe student desires interactivity.

Each of the students' workstations would include a camera andappropriate video capture hardware and software to allow a real timeimage of the student to be transmitted to the instructor'smonitor/control workstation upon selection by the instructor. This imagewould also be capable of retransmission to all of the connected studentsat the discretion of the instructor.

Each of the students' workstations would include a microphone andappropriate audio hardware and software to allow the student, uponselection by the instructor, to verbally interact with the instructor,in real time, either in concert with video from the student workstation,or without the benefit of the video image. The audio from the studentworkstation, either in concern with video or image of the studenttransmitted to the instructor's monitor/control workstation, uponselection by the instructor would also be capable of retransmission toall of the connected students at the discretion of the instructor.

Communication between the instructor's workstation and each of thestudents' workstations would be accomplished in any known communicationmeans, such as utilizing the Internet, employing a standard telephoneline or a dedicated line, or any other type of communication such as awireless communication. Although it is contemplated that there would beno direct communication between a first student's workstation to asecond student's workstation, it is conceivable that such a connectionwould be utilized, particularly if this communication utilized theinstructor's workstation as an intermediary.

A server system would be provided to control the operation of the entiresystem. This server system would contain one or more microprocessorbased servers provided with the appropriate programs to run the system,as well as the appropriate memory to store the various responses to theinstructor's questions or questions and comments generated by each ofthe students.

A testing system utilizing encrypted communications and accessed via aweb browser utilizing secure login provides for evaluation of studentprogress. Text, video, audio, graphics, and images may be used to eitherask or answer questions. Questions may be of a yes or no, multiplechoice, or essay type. A subset of a large question pool may beautomatically selected by the testing server software for presentationto the student. All questions may be selected for randomization topresent a unique test to each student. Yes or no and multiple choicequestions may be automatically graded by the server software, and, atthe discretion of the test administrator, the results may be presentedto the student upon completion of the test via dynamic web page ore-mail. Proctored testing is secured by means of a dual loginrequirement that verifies the presence of an authorized testing monitorat each student location.

Students may access a database containing hyperlinks to text, photos,graphics, audio, and video for inclusion with assigned class projects.This database would contain fully searchable text transcripts of eachaudio or video segment linked by time code to the appropriate mediasegment, and would also contain metadata relating to a genericclassification system describing the classification of each media itemas to subject, location, principal participant, date of creation,copyright ownership, and other data as appropriate to allow fullyindexed searching of the available materials. Type of media, location,and a fixed length thumbnail preview of the media matching the searchcriteria would be returned to the student for review. The student maythen, in the case of audio or video materials, adjust the starting pointand ending point of the media chosen for inclusion with the classassignment. For materials not in the Public Domain, a per use feedetermined by the copyright holder for the selected portion of the mediawould then be determined and charged to the student for the materialsused.

The student class assignments, in the form of HTML documents, andincluding any materials accessed by hyperlinks, would be transmitted tothe instructor for review and grade assignment via e-mail attachment orFTP to a web server.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will nodoubt become obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art after havingread the following detailed description of the preferred embodimentswhich are illustrated in the various drawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of an instructor and theinstructor's workstation;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a possible configuration of the systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing one possible configuration of theinstructor's monitor;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a typical student's workstation;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a possible configuration of the instructor'sdesktop; and

FIG. 6 is a drawing showing the log-on procedure according to thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates the instructor's workstation area 8. Although theinstructor 10 is shown in a studio setting, it can be appreciated that,although the present invention is directed to instructing students at aremote location, this can be accompanied by the instructor'spresentation made to students in the instructor's classroom, as well astransmitting the presentation to students located at remote terminals.The instructor's workstation would include a desktop 12 provided with amonitor 13 and other devices such as a keyboard 17 and a mouse 15 and aprocessor to manipulate screens or other software applications whichwill be transmitted to each of the remote students' workstation. Asecond monitor 14 is also included for providing a display allowinginteractivity between the instructor 10 and each of the remote students.This particular monitor will be described in more detail herein below.Since the main purpose of the present invention is to allow a livepresentation of the instructor's lesson to the students situated at aremote location, one or more cameras 16, 18 must be employed. One of thecameras would be pointed in the direction of the instructor, allowingthe instructor's presentation to be properly transmitted. Since theinstructional computer desktop display is also transmitted to each ofthe remote students, camera 18 is directed at the instructor's physicaldesktop, allowing the transmission of objects displayed to the camera bythe instructor. Furthermore, the instructor's workstation could alsoinclude other instructional aids, such as a blackboard 20. Therefore,one or more of the cameras could also be directed at the blackboard 20.Each of the cameras would be operated by a technician or would berotated under the control by the instructor to insure that the camerasare pointed in the proper direction. One or more microphones 19, 21would be included. These microphones could be associated with one ormore of the cameras or be independent therefrom. A server system 24 isprovided to control the transmission of any and all information from theinstructor's workstation to the students' workstations, as well asreceive responses from each of the students' workstations to be viewedon monitor 14. Therefore, appropriate communication lines 26, 28 and 30are provided between equipment located at the instructor's workstationand the server 30. Similarly, one or more communication lines 32 wouldbe included to provide communication between each of the students'workstations and the instructor's workstation. Various hardware andsoftware components would be provided to allow for this communication ofinformation between the instructor's workstation and the remote studentworkstations, as well as for processing and displaying the students'responses to various questions posed by the instructor onto the monitor14.

A block diagram of the entire system is shown in FIG. 2. This diagramincludes the configuration of the instructor's workstation 8, as well asshowing a plurality of remote student workstations. As shown in FIG. 1,an instructor's desktop console 12, including various input devices suchas a keyboard, mouse or other type of cursor would be provided. Thisdesktop console could also include a monitor. A second monitor 14 isprovided, allowing interactivity between the instructor and one or moreof the remotely located students. A speaker 15 is associated with theinstructor's monitor 14. Information from the desktop console 12, themonitor 14, as well as cameras 16, 18 including a microphones 19, 21,are transmitted to the server 24. Video, audio, as well as other typesof information, are sent from the server 24 to be received by each ofthe students' workstations. This type of communication can easily beaccomplished through the use of the Internet 34.

Each of the students' workstations would include respective monitors 36,38 and 40, as well as respective personal computers or other types ofprocessors 42, 44, 46. Furthermore, each of the student workstationswould include input means, such as respective keyboards 48, 50 and 52,as well as respective mouse inputs 54, 56, 58. A particular studentworkstation will be described in more detail herein below. Although FIG.2 appears to show all of the student workstations at a central location,albeit remote from the instructor's workstation 8, this is generally notgoing to be the case. More preferably, each of the students'workstations would be remote, not only the instructor's workstation 8,but also each of the other students' workstations. Each student monitorcan be provided with a camera or other video device 35, 37, 39 to allowthe instructor to view each respective student on the instructor'smonitor 14. Microphones 41, 43, 45 are associated with one of thestudent's monitors to allow each student to provide an audio inputtransmitted to the instructor's speaker 15.

FIG. 3 illustrates the monitor 14 provided at the instructor'sworkstation 8. The purpose of this monitor is to allow the instructor toview responses to various questions posed by the instructor during theinstructor's presentation. This display 14 should not be confused withthe desktop monitor utilized by the instructor during the classpresentation. As shown in FIG. 1, the monitor 14 is connected to theserver 24 which in turn is connected to the communications networkallowing information to be transmitted to the instructor's workstation 8from each of the remote students' computers. This monitor 14 is theinstructor's link to the students' interactivity. The monitor displaysthe name of each student 60, 62, 64 participating in the class sessionand informs the instructor in a variety of ways of the students'interactivity with the class session. For example, each of the studentswould have a plurality of response buttons A, B, C and D, 66, 68, 70, 72associated with each of the students. These response buttons wouldindicate a response generated from each student based upon a questionposed by the instructor. Alternatively, response buttons 74, 76referring to “yes” or “no” responses could also be provided. Icons 78,80 and 82 might indicate that a particular student has a question whichwould be subsequently posed to the instructor. Color indicators, textcolor, pop-up text display boxes and other icons could be used tofacilitate communication and interactivity with the instructor.

A question box 90 is provided to allow a student to type a question orcomment directed to the instructor. Although the present hardwarecontemplated to be used in this system would allow up to 1024 charactersto be included in the question box 90, the exact number of characters isnot crucial to the present invention. A status line 92 will reflect thetime that the questions was received by the software included in theclassroom server 24. The instructor's classroom monitor displaysnotification, by student name, that a question or comment has beenreceived. The question or comment can only be seen by the instructor andserves to enhance student response by not embarrassing the student whohas a question that might not otherwise be asked in front of a classroomfull of other students. All questions or comments are logged by thesoftware to allow instructor review at a later time, to determine classparticipation or to compare a “FAQ” for e-mail to the students.

The students' workstation is illustrated in FIG. 4. This workstationrepresents one of the workstations shown in FIG. 3. A monitor 36 isincluded connected to a processor 42 which in turn is connected tocontrol devices, such as a keyboard 48 and a mouse 54. The monitor 36can be divided into several sections although the exact configuration ofthis monitor 36 is not crucial to the present invention. For example,one section of the monitor 94 would consist of a live picture of theinstructor. A speaker 106 provided directly on the monitor or associatedtherewith, is used to hear the instructor's presentation. A camera 35would also be provided to all the students' workstations allowing videoinformation generated proximate to the student workstation 36 to bedisplayed on the instructor's monitor 14. Additionally, a microphone 41is also included to allow each student to provide a audio output to bereceived by the instructor's speaker 15. Different streaming videocompression standards and display area sizes are used primarilydependent upon the user's available communication bandwidth, hardwareand software configuration. MPEG-2 (a data rate from 2 MB to 12 MB persecond) is used where the size of the bandwidth (10 baseT or greater) isnot an issue. This is also true where the user's platform can supporteither software decoding (CPU intensive) or a custom decoder card.MPEG-1 (a data rate from 64 KB to 2 MB) can be used if ADSL or cablemodem bandwidth is available to the end user. MPEG-4 is used for 56K orlower (to about 33.6K) bandwidth applications. Proprietary streamingsystems, such as QuickTime or RealVideo, may also be used in thelower-bandwidth situations, but ISO standards-based systems arepreferred. Transcoding latency is an issue that requires carefulattention to synchronize the display video and audio with all of theother virtual classroom components.

A portion of the monitor 96 would be used to display the instructor'sdesktop. The instructor's desktop, as viewed in section 96, wouldinclude control devices such as a mouse or keyboard, as well as adisplay screen to be operated by the instructor or, in certainsituations, by one of the remotely located students. This area shows tothe student an exact duplicate of the instructor's computer desktop inreal-time. The instructor's desktop can be used to display static imagesor real-time moving images thus allowing the instructor to demonstratesoftware applications, window manipulation, cursor positioning, textentry, and more. At the discretion of the instructor, a student may beable to take control of the instructor's desktop and remotely manipulatethe software. However, the default setting would not be shared.Peer-to-peer communication or sharing of the manipulation of theinstructor's desktop by more than one student at one time, whilepossible, it is not a preferred embodiment since this would increaseclass disruption.

As described with respect to the instructor's monitor illustrated inFIG. 3, the student's monitor 36 would be provided with a question box98 allowing the student to question the instructor or provide theinstructor with a comment. A status line 100 would give the studentpositive confirmation that the virtual classroom server 24 had receivedthe student's response. Generated by the server software, the statusline 100 would display the response and the time that it was received bythe server. It is important to note that this does not necessarily meanthat the instructor has yet noted the student's response.

Each of the student workstations would be provided with an input meanssuch as a keyboard 48 as well as a mouse 54. The keyboard 48 can beprovided into two sections 102 and 104. Section 102 would include astandard typewriter keyboard allowing each student to type in theaforementioned questions or comments directed to the instructor. Section104 would include a number of response buttons allowing the student tointeract with the instructor in an intuitive, rapid manner. As depictedin the monitor of FIG. 3, these response buttons or icons could include“yes” or “no” buttons as well as numerical or, as shown in FIG. 3,letter buttons (ABCD) allowing the user to answer “yes” or “no” as wellas to respond to multiple choice questions. These response buttons canbe configured to allow almost any action such as raised hand, fast,slower or help. These responses are displayed by the student name on theinstructor's classroom monitor as previously discussed. All responses to“yes” or “no” questions as well as multiple choice questions are loggedby the software included in the server 24 to allow grading of quizquestions. Formal testing of the student could also be done using thissystem but due to security reasons, does not form one of the preferredembodiments. Additionally, these buttons or icons can be displayed onthe student's monitor 36.

FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of the instructor's desktop unit whichis communicated to each student and displayed on their monitor asindicated by section 96. This desktop unit would include a monitor 106,a processor 112, a keyboard 108 as well as a mouse 110. The mouse 110and the keyboard 108 would be connected to the processor 112 which is inturn connected to the server 24. The monitor 106 would be used todisplay static images or real time moving images as well as allowing theinstructor to demonstrate software applications, cursor positioning,text entry, window manipulation and the like. When used to allow astudent to take control of the instructor's desktop, a signal would becommunicated to the student at which time by use of one or more keys ofthe student's keyboard 48 or manipulation of the mouse 54, theinstructor's display would then be remotely manipulated by the student.

The configuration of the virtual classroom is designed to facilitatelive student space in a low bandwidth (56K) dial-up environment. Autosensing software can be implemented to test the user's hardware,software and network conditions and adjust communication speed asrequired for all portions of the virtual classroom, and allowimprovement of the user's experience. The present system would utilizevarious types of software among one or a plurality of different serversto allow optimization for specific purposes and to enhance throughputand load balancing. UNIX, LINX and WINDOWS platforms withstandards-based software (customized or off the shelf) are networked andnot clustered to provide maximum performance.

FIG. 6 illustrates the process in which a student would gain access to aparticular virtual classroom. The user would begin the log in process byentering a particular user name and password. The system would thenverify that the student is using the appropriate hardware, software andconnectivity bandwidth to participate in the virtual classroom. Thisstep is totally transparent to the student unless errors are detected.If certain errors are detected, an appropriate diagnostic message orerror screen would be displayed on the student's monitor to allow thestudent to take appropriate corrective action to enable classroomparticipation.

Additionally, when the system verifies that a valid log in has beenaccomplished, it would also insure that the student is in the propervirtual classroom and has fulfilled all of the prerequisites required bythe educational institution for attendance. This step would also serveto insure that the student is, in fact, the student authorized toparticipate in the virtual classroom. Secure socket layer (SSL)encryption is used with public/private keys where possible to insureinformation security. The information submitted when the user logs on isreceived and processed by an access authorization software provided onthe server 24. No client-side processing is used for security purposes.User information is compared against an access control list generatedfrom an external database. Multiple concurrent log ins with the sameuser information are prohibited and, if attempted, a security lock outdenies access to the virtual classroom. If this occurs, the log in isaborted and a security violation notification is issued to the user'sattempting concurrent log ins and a report is generated forinvestigation by the school administration.

If the log in is successful, the user would be allowed access to aparticular virtual classroom. Previously submitted or concurrentlysubmitted information would allow the student's virtual classroomworkstation to be customized. An example of this would be a large-fontscrolling speech-to-text conversion for the hearing impaired or fordifferent forms of interactivity may be incorporated as required. Thesedifferent forms of inactivity would change the function of the variousresponse buttons as well as the configuration of the various informationdisplayed upon the student's monitor as well as allowing directionalaudio conferencing. For lecture-only situations, it may be desirable tominimize or even eliminate the student interactivity portions of thevirtual classroom to prevent interruptions. Once the user has logged inand the student's workstation has been appropriately customized, theinstructor can begin his or her lecture.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention have been presented for the purposes of illustration anddescription. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations are possible in light of the above teachings.

1. A virtual classroom for allowing an instructor to instruct aplurality of students, each student located at a remote location fromall the other students, each student receiving instructional materialover a communications network, comprising: a teaching workstationprovided at a location remote from each of the students, said teachingworkstation including a first monitor provided with an input deviceallowing for the projection and manipulation of images on said firstmonitor; a plurality of student workstations, each student workstationprovided at a remote location from all the other student workstationsand the teaching workstation, each student workstation provided with astudent monitor for displaying images thereon and an input device formanipulating images displayed on said student monitor as well as formanipulating images projected upon said first monitor; a camera andmicrophone provided proximate to said teaching workstation for receivingvideo and audio material created at said teaching workstation andtransmitting said video and audio material over the communicationsnetwork to each of said student workstations, said video materialprojected upon each respective student monitor; and a server connectedto said teaching workstation and said camera and said microphone as wellas the communications network for controlling the operation of thevirtual classroom including managing the flow of signals between saidteaching workstation and each of said student workstations over thecommunications network.
 2. The virtual classroom in accordance withclaim 1, wherein each of said student workstations receives a videostream of the instructor's presentation to be displayed on a firstsection of said student monitor and further wherein each of said studentworkstations receive a video stream of said first monitor to bedisplayed on a second section of said student monitor.
 3. The virtualclassroom in accordance with claim 1, said teaching workstation furtherincluding a second monitor for projecting information sent from eachstudent to said teaching workstation over the communications network,said information including responses to questions asked by theinstructor as well as questions asked by each of the students.
 4. Thevirtual classroom in accordance with claim 2, said teaching workstationfurther including a second monitor for projecting information sent fromeach student to said teaching workstation over the communicationsnetwork, said information including responses to questions asked by theinstructor as well as questions asked by each of the students.
 5. Thevirtual classroom in accordance with claim 3, wherein said secondmonitor includes a status box for indicating time that a question wassent to said teaching workstation from the student.
 6. The virtualclassroom in accordance with claim 4, wherein said second monitorincludes a status box for indicating time that a question was sent tosaid teaching workstation from the student.
 7. The virtual classroom inaccordance with claim 3, wherein said server includes a memory forstoring information sent to said teacher workstation from each of saidstudent workstations.
 8. The virtual classroom in accordance with claim4, wherein said server includes a memory for storing information sent tosaid teacher workstation from each of said student workstations.
 9. Thevirtual classroom in accordance with claim 1, wherein said servercontains information for customizing each of said student workstations.10. The virtual classroom in accordance with claim 3, further includinga camera provided at each of said student workstations for transmittingvideo information from said student workstation to be projected uponsaid second monitor.
 11. The virtual classroom in accordance with claim1, further including a microphone provided at each of said studentworkstations for transmitting audio information from said studentworkstation to said teaching workstation.
 12. The virtual classroom inaccordance with claim 11, further including a speaker provided and saidteaching workstation for broadcasting said audio information.
 13. Avirtual classroom for allowing an instructor to instruct a plurality ofstudents, each student located at a remote location from all otherstudents, each student receiving instructional material over acommunications network, comprising: a teaching workstation provided at alocation remote from each of the students, said teaching workstationprovided with a first monitor for projecting information sent from eachstudent to the teaching workstation; a plurality of studentworkstations, each student workstation provided at a remote locationfrom all the other student workstations, each student workstationprovided with a student monitor for displaying images thereon and aninput device for manipulating images displayed on said student monitoras well as sending information to said teaching workstation over thecommunications network to be displayed on said first monitor; a cameraand microphone provided proximate to said teaching workstation forreceiving video and audio material created at said teaching workstationand transmitting said video and audio material over the communicationsnetwork to each of said student workstations, said video materialprojected upon each respective student monitor; and a server connectedto said teaching workstation and said camera and said microphone as wellas the communications network for controlling the operation of thevirtual classroom including managing the flow of signals between saidteaching workstation and each of said student workstations over thecommunications network.
 14. The virtual classroom in accordance withclaim 13, wherein said server includes a memory for storing informationsent to said teaching workstation from each of said student workstation.15. The virtual classroom in accordance with claim 13, wherein saidserver contains information for customizing each of said studentworkstations.